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More GM papaya found in Thailand / Neither fair nor free (19/7/2005)

1.More GM papaya found in Northeast
2.Free or even fair?

COMMENT

Following on from the recent evidence of the collusion of GM scientists elsewhere in Asia in the selling to farmers of unapproved GM seeds, as a means of forcing legalisation via widespread contamination, there has to be suspicion about the motivation behind the widespread and illegal dispersal of GM papaya from a Thai research station (item 1). For more on this issue:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5499

EXCERPT from item 2: More worrisome than the loss of jobs in the agricultural sector is the potential loss of jasmine rice as an exclusively Thai entity. Here, opinions are divided. Proponents argue that an FTA [Thailand-US free-trade agreement] will lead to a transfer of expertise and technology which will boost farm productivity in Thailand. The naysayers envision a totally different picture: An influx of genetically modified varieties of rice; rampant bio-piracy; a monopoly over seed supplies by (American) conglomerates; and the demise of self-sufficient, small-scale farmers. And that would be just the beginning...
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1.More GM papaya found in Northeast
APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Bangkok Post, 9 July 2005
http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/news/show.pl?0550

Genetically modified papaya has been found growing in three more provinces in the Northeast even though the Department of Agriculture has been insisting since last year that all GM papaya has been eradicated.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia revealed that some of the papaya planted by farmers in Kalasin, Chaiyaphum and Maha Sarakham had been contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The global environmental group claimed that farmers in the three provinces had last year received papaya saplings from the department's Khon Kaen agricultural research station, which distributed 2,600 saplings to farmers in Kalasin, 720 in Chaiyaphum and 100 in Maha Sarakham. Greenpeace Southeast Asia on Thursday dumped over 1,000kg of papaya in front of the Department of Agriculture building and demanded a meeting with the department's director-general Chakan Saenraksawong, who failed to show up.

Anan Suwannarat, director of the Agricultural Regulatory Office, said the department was willing to work with Greenpeace to clear up the misunderstanding.

''We would like to see the list of areas where you have found GM papaya so that tests could be conducted on the saplings for confirmation. If it is true, we will get rid of them. However, I believe that all GM papaya was already destroyed. But if your information is correct, we would have to investigate why GM papaya still exists,'' he told Greenpeace.

The department collected 8,912 papaya samples from 85 farmers last year and found 329 of them contained GMOs. The farmers were compensated 40 baht for each tree destroyed.

Greenpeace campaigner Patwajee Srisuwan was dissatisfied with Mr Anan's explanation. ''This is the usual answer we get - nothing on new developments. The point is it does not involve only three provinces. We would like to know how they would handle the contamination problems in the other 34 provinces where farmers also obtained papaya seeds from the station for use,'' she said.

Greenpeace had earlier claimed it found GM papaya in not three but four provinces - Kamphaeng Phet, Khon Kaen, Rayong and Ubon Ratchathani.
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2.Free or even fair?
Bangkok Post, July 11,2005
http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/rights/show.pl?0011

As the 4th round of Thailand-US free-trade negotiations start today in Montana, a key issue will be the shape of any future intellectual-property regime. The survival of Thai jasmine rice, and the people who grow it, may very well depend on whatever system is finally agreed upon

Story by VASANA CHINVARAKORN

Suntorn Sihanern's reward for discovering the world-famous strain of rice we call khao hom mali came to the princely sum of 500 baht. But he's now worried about the future for the variety he affectionately refers to as "Mae Mali". Under the terms of an imminent new international-trade regime, jasmine rice may one day have to depart her homeland and Thai farmers _ for good.

"Mae Mali is a very sexy lady, with lots of suitors after her. I'm quite concerned that she may sooner or later marry a farang [foreigner] and move to the United States. We'd all be very lonely then."

The 82-year-old retiree made this remark during a recent seminar at Chulalongkorn University entitled "The Fate of Thai Jasmine Rice Under the Thailand-US Free Trade Agreement". Suntorn was invited to give a keynote speech about the historic find he made in 1950 when he decided to break his boss' rule about only collecting grains of rice from fields of at least 15 rai in area. At the remote hamlet of Bang Khla in Chachoengsao, the young Ministry of Agriculture official came across a local variety so aromatic and tasty that he decided to overlook the fact it was only being grown in tiny quantities. Two hundred ears were harvested and sent to ministry headquarters in Bangkok. After a series of tests and further selective cultivation over the nine years which followed, khao hom mali, as we know it today, was born.

In 1992, Suntorn was given a plaque -- the cost of having it made came to about 500 baht -- in recognition of his contribution to making Thailand the world's No. 1 exporter of jasmine rice.

Suntorn reckons he's now probably the only person still alive with first-hand experience of those early days. "All the other guys have long gone to 'trade charcoal'," he said, using a metaphor for dying that, while witty, has a forboding ring to it. For the children of today could very well be the last generation of Thais to be able to claim jasmine rice as their own, as part of our nation's heritage.

At the Chula gathering, various speakers _ farmers, exporters, activists, academics _ took turns dissecting the potential scenarios awaiting jasmine rice. The prospects seem rather grim, though.

Why so? Proponents of free trade like to list the benefits Thailand could earn from bilateral trade agreements. A report in 2003 by the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) calculated that the Kingdom's agricultural exports to the US would increase by five to 22 per cent, while US exports to Thailand would also rise by anything between four and 67 per cent.

In a telephone interview with Outlook, Michael Delaney, counselor for economic affairs at the US embassy in Bangkok, said an FTA (free-trade agreement) deal would allow Thai farmers better access to the American market with a substantial reduction

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